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Re: On-line auctions



<<I think the key element that is missing here is the failure to educate
donors in what may happen to their item. Would you (or others) feel more
comfortable if the "personal family items" were placed for sale at a local
auction house? Or is it that the item is no longer part of a repository?
this is where the education of the donor and right of first refusal are
important.

Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA>>

I would feel more comfortable knowing that I or my heirs would be contacted
and offered the chance to reclaim the items (which I'm now assured I would
be; I forwarded this thread upstairs and asked, since I work in the same
building as the State Museum's registrar). It's NOT that "they would no
longer be part of the collection," or that I don't want to store them
myself.  If the institution no longer wants them, I want to decide where
they go next because their value to me has nothing to do with money.  The
word is "priceless"; we're talking about something my father, who is no
longer alive, made for me when I was a child.  That's "Part One," if you
will, of why I feel strongly about this issue.

"Part Two" is that eBay is not "just another way to sell things."  It's
(IMO) one big yard sale.  This is a venue that simply wasn't there when I
made my donation - and one cannot modify the agreement to strike out a
possibility doesn't exist at the time of signing. I'm simply pointing out
that if donations are important to an institution, seeing its deaccessioned
items on eBay may cause some potential donors to change their minds.

Nina M. Osier, Director
Division of Records Management Services
Maine State Archives

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